Ara Laylo is a Honolulu-based creative consultant and strategist whose practice spans more than twenty years at the intersection of design, cultural storytelling, community building, and civic engagement. She works with founders, executives, and organizations seeking to think more intentionally about how they articulate their identity, engage their communities, and shape their long-term cultural impact.
With a background in design and extensive experience in creative direction, brand development, event curation and production, and editorial and studio production, Ara approaches strategy as both a critical and creative practice. Her work is particularly attentive to the relationship between identity, power, anddd how organizations define and communicate their values, who is represented within those narratives, and how creative practice can contribute to more meaningful and sustainable forms of cultural participation.
Her senior roles have included VP Brand at NMG Network, where she developed bespoke publications and brand experiences for luxury resort and hospitality clients, and Creative Lead at BoxJelly, where she contributed to Honolulu’s creative and civic ecosystem for more than a decade. Across her strategic and creative practice, artificial intelligence has increasingly become a site of experimentation and collaboration, extending her capacity to generate, interrogate, and communicate ideas while keeping human judgment, authorship, and cultural sensitivity at the center of the process.
Her civic practice is similarly grounded in cultural stewardship and community engagement. She has served on the boards of Hawaiʻi Contemporary and the Chinatown Neighborhood Board, as well as the advisory committee of the Merwin Conservancy. She remains active in Honolulu’s cultural landscape as a curator and event producer, developing projects that range from public-facing cultural events and galas to more intimate gatherings. Across these contexts, she considers curation and production not simply as logistical practices, but as forms of cultural authorship that shape how people encounter ideas, institutions, and one another.
Her commitment to Filipino diasporic representation is exemplified by her work with iJeepney.com. In collaboration with Dr. Patricia Espiritu Halagao, Ara served as Creative Director for the platform’s 2025 redesign. Originally launched in 2006 and sponsored by the Smithsonian, iJeepney is a Filipino American history and curriculum resource serving students, educators, and communities advocating for greater Filipino representation in Hawaiʻi’s schools. The project brings together her design practice, Filipino heritage, and longstanding commitment to education, demonstrating how visual communication can function as both a pedagogical tool and a means of cultural preservation.
Today, Ara works with organizations and founders to develop brands, narratives, and ideas that are visually compelling, culturally relevant, and strategically grounded. Her practice is ultimately concerned with the ways creative work can help institutions and communities articulate who they are, understand the histories they carry, and build toward more meaningful and lasting forms of impact.
Past Work:
2010-2022 | VP Brand Development NMG Network
NMG Network is a Hawai‘i owned and based content provider for the modern traveler curating authentic media for twelve brands such as Halekulani Living, FLUX – The Current of Hawai‘i, Lei Culture, Chinatown Now, Palm for the MacNaughton Kobayashi Group, Banyan for International Market Place, Hoku for SPG Hotels, Reserve, Hopper for Mokulele Airlines, Dip for Alohilani, Hale for Ko Olina Resort, and Suite for Kimpton Hotels
FLUX Sound Live 2017 featuring Thundercat
☻ Designer • Producer • Educator ☻ 